games

Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov has launched a new game designed exclusively for mobile devices.

Dubbed Marbly, the title is available for both Apple's iPhone and iPad. The game's description in Apple's App Store says that it's an "easy to get, but tricky to master real puzzle game" It comes with over 180 puzzles that users must work their way through.

Pajitnov has been developing games for decades, but he's best known for creating Tetris -- the massive hit for Nintendo's Game Boy.

Marbly is available now as a free download in Apple'… Read more

If you know anything about the new hit iOS game Dots, which has already logged 3 million players and more than 250 million total plays, you know that for any serious player, it's all about high scores.

So I've been a bit upset over the last 24 hours after noticing that the Dots high score system had gone awry. On the one hand, my entire personal high score list had disappeared. But perhaps more troubling, the all-time high score list had regressed, with someone's world-beating score of 800 simply having vanished.

If this is all Latin to you, then take a trip over to the iOS App Store (Android users, help is reportedly on the way) and download Dots. Before you do that, though, clear your schedule for the next week so that your inevitable new obsession doesn't interfere with important meetings, dates, dinners, or even sleep. Now you're ready. … Read more

Ludo is a classic game, so there are dozens of variants on the App Store, but LUDO Board Game is one of the better options currently available. Offering numerous variants, themes, and attractive 3D visuals, it is one of those games that actually translates quite well to the iPad, even when there are three or four people playing.

The rules of LUDO are the same. Role dice and move tokens around the board, and then fill up your row of spaces at the end. If you've played similar games like Parcheesi, you know the rules to Ludo. The age … Read more

Glu Mobile, a developer and publisher of freemium games on smartphones and tablets, will start offering cash to highly skilled gamers.

Speaking to Reuters on Thursday, the company confirmed that Android users playing "Deer Hunter Reloaded," its hunting-simulation game, will be able to win cash prizes if they achieve strong results in certain skill-based contests.

In order to win the cash, gamers will need to pay a fee to enter the competition. The company told Reuters that if all goes well, it will bring the cash-for-gaming system to its other Android titles.

Because the cash-based system is based … Read more

GamePop will continue to hand out free gaming consoles for the next month in the hopes that it will spur preorder interest for the upstart game system that plays Android games on your TV, its maker announced on Thursday.

BlueStacks, which also makes an eponymous desktop Android app player, has extended the GamePop console giveaway, saying in a prepared statement that "...due to the high demand of preorders it is extending its offer of giving the console itself away free to the end of June." You can preorder the console for free at GamePop.tv. … Read more

Nearly a year ago to the day, Rockstar's long-awaited Max Payne 3 debuted to nearly universal acclaim. Price at the time: around $50, same as most new PC games.

Nearly two years ago to the day, Rockstar's L.A. Noire debuted to nearly universal acclaim -- but only for consoles. A PC edition arrived later in the year, bundling all five of the cases that had been released as DLC for the consoles. Price at the time: you know.

Be glad you waited. For a limited time, Amazon is offering L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition and Max Payne 3 (PC) for $9.99. … Read more

Much like the vanishing photos sent with Snapchat, a new Web app lets you send self-destructing messages from your work computer.

New York-based app maker Lamplighter Games last week launched OTR -- for "off the record" messaging -- a browser plug-in that lets you send messages that disappear within 5 seconds of being read.

"We both love using Snapchat, so we thought it would be fun to put Snapchat in the browser," according to Kris Minkstein, who co-founded the company with his brother Andy. "We figured since you're in front of your computer all day at work that you're going to end up sending a lot of these photos to probably the guys sitting next to you at your cubicle." … Read more

You may soon be able to log into your favorite Web sites and apps using just your Amazon credentials.

Following in the footsteps of Facebook and other online companies, the retail giant on Wednesday launched a single-sign on feature dubbed Login with Amazon. The goal of the service is to reduce the need to juggle multiple passwords by allowing you to use your Amazon account to access various Web sites, apps, and games.

Available now to all developers, Login with Amazon is already in place at such Amazon subsidiaries as Zappos and Woot. Amazon claims that both sites saw strong … Read more

Microsoft's Xbox One controller will be one hardened piece of hardware.

Speaking to tech news site Pocket-lint in an interview published Wednesday, Microsoft accessories and hardware manager Bob Brown said his company has been testing the Xbox One's controller by pressing its buttons "over and over, between 4-5 times a second." Twenty controllers are being mashed with 2 million button presses each, according to Pocket-lint.

As each button is pressed, a computer analyzes its function to ensure it's sending a signal back to a console. If it doesn't operate correctly anymore, its errors are … Read more